The murder of Karel Van Noppen was a high-profile assassination of a government livestock inspector in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in 1995. Van Noppen had been investigating illegal practices by farmers and businessmen in Belgium and was shot dead by assailants outside his house in the village of

Wechelderzande Wechelderzande is a ''submunicipality'' of Lille, situated in the Campine region of the Antwerp Province in Belgium. It has been part of the municipality of Lille since 1977. Overview Wechelderzande was first mentioned in 1182 and belonged th ...

in the

Province of Antwerp ) , native_name_lang = nl , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Antwerp.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van de provincie Antwerpen.svg , shield_size ...

. A number of people connected with the illegal supply of

growth hormones Growth hormone (GH) or somatotropin, also known as human growth hormone (hGH or HGH) in its human form, is a peptide hormone that stimulates growth, cell reproduction, and cell regeneration in humans and other animals. It is thus important in h ...

to livestock were sentenced in connection with the murder.

"Hormone Mafia"

The use of

on livestock has the potential to increase the profit per animal between ten and 100 percent. However, the use of such hormones has been banned by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

since 1989 and so organised crime, motivated by the immense profits, moved into the business. This was a particular concern in Belgium, where several government inspectors had been threatened or had attempts made on their lives.

Murder

In February 1995, 43-year-old Karel Van Noppen, who had been investigating the phenomenon, was shot dead outside his front door. The killing provoked outrage throughout Belgium, with a torchlight procession led by his widow in Flanders and calls to investigate and better regulate the cattle industry. In 2002, a court sentenced Albert Barrez, Carl de Schutter and Germain Daenen to 25 years each for their roles in the murder, while another man, Alex Vercauteren received a life sentence without parole.

In popular culture

The 2011 Belgian crime drama '' Bullhead'', directed by

Michaël R. Roskam Michaël R. Roskam (; born 1972, in Sint-Truiden) is a Belgium, Belgian film director. Career Roskam attended St. Lucas Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, where he studied painting and contemporary art, and the Binger Film Institute in Amsterdam ...

, with

Matthias Schoenaerts Matthias Schoenaerts (; ; born 8 December 1977) is a Belgian actor. He made his film debut at the age of 13 in '' Daens'' (1992), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He is best known for his roles as Filip in ...

in a leading role, is loosely based on the incident and the hormone mafia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Noppen, Karel People murdered by organized crime People murdered in Belgium Organized crime events in Belgium Belgian murder victims Growth hormones

Murder of Karel Van Noppen The murder of Karel Van Noppen was a high-profile assassination of a government livestock inspector in Belgium in 1995. Van Noppen had been investigating illegal practices by farmers and businessmen in Belgium and was shot dead by assailants outsid ...

1995 murders in Belgium February 1995 events in Europe